Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar inspired Rishabh Pant when his franchise, the Delhi Capitals (DC), lost the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday (April 20).

Delhi Capitals were in for a hard evening as Sunrisers Hyderabad feasted on their bowling assault, hitting 266/7 - their third 250-plus total of the season - and cruising to a 67-run victory.

After the match, DC skipper Pant was upset during the post-match chat, and Gavaskar encouraged Pant to keep focused. “Rishabh, Sunil here. I have never seen you down, I don’t ever want to see you down. I want to just see a smile on your face. Never mind the result. Go ahead, because there are plenty of matches to come,” Gavaskar said.

DC suffered their sixth loss in the ongoing IPL season. The franchise is now ranked seventh on the points table, while SRH has risen to second with ten points.

“The only thought process behind that was we thought there would be some dew but it didn’t come. I thought if we could restrict them to 220-230 we would be in with a chance. I think powerplay was the difference. We were just catching up throughout the match. That was the massive difference,” said Pant.